DAN VARNELL'S LIFE MATTERED...
DENY EARLY RELEASE OF HIS MURDERER, Gail Brashear!

As many of you are aware, in May of 1996 our father, Dan Varnell (48), was brutally murdered at the hands of a 15 year old girl, Gail Brashear. She waved him down as if in distress, got in his truck and then shot and stabbed him viciously as well as slicing his neck several times with a 3 1/2 inch blade knife. She then dumped his body over a ravine, stabbing him 3 more times in the back of his neck "to be sure he was dead." Gail Brashear bragged about killing our dad, writing letters calling herself the "Angel of Death" and boasting how "The Mother F... wouldn't die..." She was a sick and twisted teen with no signs of remorse or regret. This violent crime was barbaric and malicious as well as completely unnecessary. She still has not apologized or shown any signs of remorse. NOW, GAIL BRASHEAR HAS PETITIONED FOR EARLY RELEASE, AND WE WANT TO STOP THIS.

Due to a new law that was passed in 2014, a juvenile who was convicted as an adult under the age of 18 and who was serving a life sentence or lengthy sentence is now “presumed” releasable after 20 years spent in prison. Gail Brashear (now 35) has petitioned for early release and we are working hard to have it DENIED. Her hearing is set for April 12, 2017.

Brashear was charged as an adult with Aggravated First-Degree Murder, which in WA State carries a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment for juveniles. Prosecutors offered to let the teenager plead guilty to the lesser crime of First-Degree Murder which would avoid the emotional turmoil of a trial and spare our family the anguish of potential appeals. The agreement was 52 years in prison without parole; a plea bargain she agreed to. Brashear was also charged with First Degree Assault and First Degree Burglary... (she stabbed another victim prior to killing our father.)

The Indeterminate Sentence Review Board (ISRB) of Washington State will be making this decision. They must determine if the offender (Gail Brashear) is more likely then not to commit a new crime. Brashear has made remarks with excitement that she wants to be released and go to college and become a lawyer and have a life...This is appalling. What gives her the right to those privileges? She maliciously took a life of a man who was loved. Our father, Dan Varnell, was a Vietnam Vet having served 2 tour duties, loving husband to wife of 25 years, father of 3 and loved by so many in his community. He was the foundation of our family and his widow, our mother, has never remarried while suffering all these years with depression and anxiety. Dan Varnell missed 3 weddings, the births of 9 granddaughters and his 45th wedding anniversary... he had so many more years with us. We have suffered immense pain and loss especially with the nature of how he died; he was tortured from the stab wounds afflicted to his neck since the gun shots to his abdomen were not fatal. Gail Brashear needs to pay the proper consequence for such an act of violence and brutality.Otherwise, this implies that his life didn't matter. She must serve more time to fit this crime.